Investigate. Verify. Protect
Meet the experts
Abeer Saady Soliman
Abeer Saady Soliman is a media development consultant, journalist safety trainer, and former war correspondent with more than three decades of experience working in conflict and crisis environments.
She has trained journalists, editors, and civil society actors in more than 60 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe on journalist safety, conflict-sensitive reporting, media ethics, and investigative journalism. Her work focuses on helping journalists operate safely and responsibly in high-risk environments, including situations involving armed groups, political violence, and displacement.
Abeer previously served as Vice President of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate and VP of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT), where she led international initiatives supporting local and women journalists and media development in crisis-affected regions.
Anass Bendriff
Anass Bendrif is a senior media and communication expert with over 20 years of experience in journalism, strategic communication, media development, and training. He has led regional and international projects in conflict and post-conflict settings across the MENA region and Africa. His expertise includes countering disinformation, digital security, hate speech monitoring, media literacy, and investigative journalism. Anass is widely recognized for designing and delivering interactive training programs, policy research, and media evaluation missions.
Mohammed Komani
Mohammed Komani is an investigative journalist and senior data editor with over 15 years of experience in investigative and data journalism. He works with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) as a data editor and coach, supporting journalists across the region.
He is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), contributing to major cross-border investigations including the Panama Papers, Pandora Papers, Swiss Leaks, FinCEN Files, and Ericsson Files. His work focuses on corruption, financial crime, and money laundering investigations.
Mohammed is also an experienced trainer and mentor, having supported hundreds of journalists through programmes with the Google News Initiative, ICFJ, ARIJ, and the Thomson Foundation. He has served on the Sigma Awards prize committee.
Omnia Abbas Shawkat – Andariya
Omnia Abbas Shawkat is the founder of Andariya, a Sudan-based digital media and cultural platform. She has more than 17 years of experience working across the East and Horn of Africa, the MENA region, and the United States. Her work spans environmental management, cultural production, and humanitarian media, and she has led the development of bilingual digital platforms, research initiatives, storytelling ecosystems, and cultural exchange programmes. As part of this Thomson project, Andariya is also the social media listening and data partner, supporting the monitoring and analysis of Sudan’s digital information environment.
Raghdan Orsud – Beam Reports
Raghdan Orsud is the co-founder of Beam Reports, an independent Sudanese investigative journalism and fact-checking initiative dedicated to countering disinformation and strengthening information integrity in Sudan’s media ecosystem. Beam Reports conducts investigative reporting, digital verification and fact-checking to identify and debunk misinformation circulating across Sudanese digital spaces. Since the outbreak of the current conflict, the organisation has played an important role in tracking disinformation narratives, verifying conflict-related content and analysing how coordinated information campaigns influence public discourse.
Shaza Brema
Shaza Brema is a Sudanese mental health and psychosocial support specialist with 14 years of experience across the humanitarian and development sectors. She holds a Master’s degree in Community Counselling from Ahfad University for Women, where she also studied at the School of Public Health.
Her work focuses on the design, coordination and delivery of mental health and psychosocial support programmes, including training, referral systems, networking, quality assurance, monitoring and compliance. She has also supported programmes in livelihoods, entrepreneurship, skills development and capacity building for vulnerable and displacement-affected communities, including women, young people, internally displaced people, migrants, refugees and host communities.
Shaza has worked with NGOs, universities and UN agencies, contributing to the design and delivery of programmes and initiatives and supporting community-based organisations through training in areas including advocacy, governance, finance and communications. She brings this experience to Thomson Foundation’s psychosocial support series for Sudanese journalists, with a practical focus on wellbeing, resilience and professional safety in conflict-affected environments.